The almanac

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Neptune and Uranus. Evening stars are Mercury, Saturn and Venus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include George III, king of England during the American Revolutionary War, in 1738; actor Rosalind Russell in 1907; opera singer Robert Merrill in 1917; actors Dennis Weaver in 1924 and Bruce Dern in 1936 (age 77); radio/TV host Ruth Westheimer in 1928 (age 85); singer Freddy Fender in 1937; publisher and commentator Mortimer Zuckerman in 1937 (age 76); singer/actor Michelle Phillips in 1944 (age 69); actor Parker Stevenson in 1952 (age 61); singer El DeBarge in 1961 (age 52); and actors Scott Wolf in 1968 (age 45), Horatio Sanz in 1969 (age 44), Noah Wyle in 1971 (age 42) and Angelina Jolie in 1975 (age 38).

On this date in history:

In 1784, France's Marie Thible of Lyons became the first woman to fly in a hot-air balloon.

In 1896, Henry Ford wheeled his first car from a brick shed in Detroit and drove it around darkened streets on a trial run.

In 1917, the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded.

In 1940, the World War II evacuation of Dunkirk, France, was completed. A flotilla of small boats spent nearly a week crossing the English Channel to rescue nearly 350,000 British, French and Belgian troops from advancing German forces.

In 1944, Rome was liberated as the last of the German occupiers fled the Italian capital ahead of the U.S. 9th Army.

In 1972, black militant Angela Davis was acquitted of murder, kidnapping and criminal conspiracy charges stemming from a California courtroom shootout in which a judge and three other people were killed.

In 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an Alabama minute-of-silence law as specifically fostering classroom prayer.

In 1989, in what became known as the Tiananmen Square massacre, hundreds of pro-democracy students were reported killed and thousands wounded as Chinese troops swept demonstrators from the square in Beijing.

In 1990, an Oregon woman, Janet Adkins, killed herself in Michigan using a "suicide machine" developed by "Dr. Death" Jack Kevorkian. She was the retired pathologist's first reported "medicide" patient.

In 1992, U.S. Postal Service officials announced that a young, 1950s-era Elvis Presley portrait was chosen overwhelmingly over an older, Las Vegas-style Elvis in a nationwide vote for a new postage stamp honoring "The King."

In 1998, Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his part in the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

In 2003, Martha Stewart, the home decorating guru, was indicted on federal charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and securities fraud in a dispute over a stock sale.

In 2005, the Covington Diocese in Kentucky agreed to pay up to $120 million to more than 100 alleged victims of child molestation from the last 50 years.

In 2006, former Peruvian President Alan Garcia Perez regained the presidency in a runoff victory over Ollanta Humula Tasso.

In 2007, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., accused of accepting about $400,000 from companies hoping to do business in Africa, was indicted on 16 counts including racketeering, conspiracy, money laundering and obstruction of justice.

In 2009, the U.S. government reported the nation's unemployment rate in June reached 9.4 percent, its highest figure in 26 years. The report said 14.5 million Americans were out of work.

In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama named Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper Jr. director of national intelligence, with the task of improving coordination between the 16 American spy and intelligence agencies.

In 2012, a suicide car-bomb explosion next to a Shiite office building in Baghdad killed 18 people and wounded 125.

A thought for the day: Oscar Wilde said, "A little sincerity is a dangerous thing and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal."

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